“Aw, people can come up with statistics to prove anything.
Forty percent of all people know that.”
Homer Simpson
You surprised me. Having worked in market research for many years and having owned a research consulting firm, I confidently predicted that the Silveridge survey would yield somewhere between 100 and 200 responses. We got 326!
 the survey results.  |
RESPONSES TO SOME OF YOUR SUGGESTIONS
Of the many ideas that you offered, these are the first ones that we’ll be working on.
LIGHTING. In addition to ongoing improvements in the lighting at the entrance, we’ll be taking your suggestions and reviewing all the lighting on walkways and will be adding more.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS. We are reviewing the dress code for those who work at the front gates and other employees. We are planning new attire. Watch for new standards by the fall.
SUMMER LANDSCAPING. Some of you suggested that you’d like weed control and other maintenance services over the summer. While there are individuals who currently offer such services on an informal basis, we are arranging for our park landscape vendor to also offer this service to you. We will look into options and what the cost to you would be and will let you know.
STREET CLEANING. We are investigating new ways to keep the streets clean, investigating other providers and techniques. We’ll make this better.
OTHERS WE COULD USE YOUR HELP WITH
CLUB HOURS. Some of you requested longer hours for specific craft rooms, like art and ceramics. These are not set by our policies, but by the clubs involved. Please see them to make changes.
NEW ARRIVALS WELCOME. We had a suggestion that we pair up longtime residents with new arrivals to make them feel welcome and help them get into The Resort lifestyle. GREAT IDEA! We’d love to see this happen and if you’re willing to help, please let us know.
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There were plenty of other excellent suggestions and we will be using the off-season to get to more of them. Again, our thanks. And please keep the ideas coming – we have Problem/Solution forms in the office and are eager to hear of anything that isn’t up to standard or that could be improved.
CONCERNS/ISSUES
One issue that came up in a number of responses was increased rents. These were discussed in a letter put together by Al and Rhonda, as well as in a community meeting. We’ll put the letter and accompanying chart in this issue of The Silveridge Sun for any of you who might have missed it.
Finally, there were those who noted specific problems with the facilities, such as peeling paint. We work at having the highest standards for our facilities and we really, really want you help in spotting such problems. Please use the Problem/Solution forms in the office so we can put them into our schedule.
THE SURVEY RESULTS
“If you surveyed a hundred typical middle-aged Americans I bet you’d find
that only two of them could tell you their blood types, but every last
one of them would know the theme song from ‘Beverly Hillbillies.'”
Dave Barry
Let’s review all the questions and answers, in the order asked.
Overall satisfaction and the NPS
The standard measure of how well any product or service performs comes from asking if you’d recommend that product/service to friends or relatives. This yields what is known in research circles as the Net Promoter Score, and it is the gold standard of performance measures. You determine the NPS (that’s the Net Promoter Score – it’s so popular that it goes by its initials) by taking the highest two ratings (“9” or “10”) and then subtracting out all the low scores (a “6” or below).
The benchmark NPS for the service providing the survey software, based on over 70,000 surveys, is 23. You gave Silveridge a 36, well above the average score. Congratulations to the staff and owners and all the volunteers who make Silveridge special.
Time in the park
The most common answer for how long residents had been at Silveridge was 4-8 years, at 39%. If you’ve been at Silveridge for over 15 years, you’re one of just 12%.
Why Silveridge?
Over two-thirds of you (70%) said you chose Silveridge because of friends/relatives. No wonder it’s such a friendly place.
Appearance of the park
Asked to rate the appearance of Silveridge, 40% said Excellent and 49% chose Good, for a total favorable rating of 89%.
Rating the staff
When you rated the overall performance of Silveridge staff, you gave them a weighted average of 7.9 out of 10.
For the other questions about the staff, there were five possible responses, from Never to Always. Looking at what in research is known as the “top two boxes,” that is, the two best ratings, the numbers came it at…
For enforcing rules & requirements, 55%.
For being quick to respond to problems/concerns, 46%
For warm and friendly, 77%
And, finally,
asked specifically about the maintenance staff, the “top two” came in at 75%.
The newsletter
As someone who works on our Silveridge Sun newsletter, I was eager to see how you felt about our efforts.
The printed version scored 8.2 out of 10 and the online version 7.7. And nearly everyone agreed that the current schedule of once a month was just right. Asked what topics you’d like to see more of, you suggested items on changes to the park itself, and profiles of clubs and activities.
Feeling safe
A large majority (94%) of you felt either Safe or Very Safe during the daylight hours, with the percentage dropping a bit (to 88%) during the nighttime.
Value
When asked to rate the value received for the cost of rent, 51% chose Good or Excellent, with 38% at Fair.
(Al LaCanne has done extensive research on rents in the areas, along with analysis of comparable values. This was presented at a meeting in mid-March but is also included in this issue of Silveridge Sun.)
Profile of those who responded
Of those who took the survey, we saw that..
92% are seasonal residents
55% were American citizens versus 42% Canadians, and
Were evenly split between male and female.
So, those are the statistics. Thank you again for your help with the survey.
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Should you have any questions about specific responses, I’d be happy to talk with you. You can contact me at dale@dauten.com.